Today has been a very good day. Mike is doing unbelievably well. This morning he took a shower all alone. Well, not exactly alone, because I was there in case he needed anything. But he didn't need anything. After that he got dressed and he and I and Mike 2 went to Hot Springs. My cousin Sheryl had told me that she saw where Big Lots had a wagon on sale in her Sunday paper and when I looked online, I found the same thing and made plans to go have a look. Sonny wanted to find a USB microphone because when he talks to his friends online there is a lot of feedback....something about his sound card is built to work its best with a microphone that connects thru USB.
Mike drove. It was tricky using his crutches to get himself into the car, but he did it and didn't wince or complain of any pain. And he said that driving was easy enough, not difficult for him at all. He didn't get out of the car though. He just stayed listening to a read aloud story on the CD player while Mike and I went into the stores to get the things on our list. At Big Lots, I liked the wagon and we bought it. I got some chocolate chip cookies too. We went to Walmart and looked for the microphone, but they didn't have it. We did buy a few groceries from there and I got a pre-cooked chicken for lunch. We tried finding the microphone at Office Depot, but they didn't have a USB microphone either.
As soon as Mike got home and into the house and we brought in the things we bought, I fixed him lunch. I had thought he would want to take a nap after all that effort. But he didn't. He ate lunch, watched some tv, made some phone calls, got onto his computer and showed me some of the things that are being auctioned on the Texas Unclaimed Money page and has now, still awake, gone back to watching tv. And I am on my computer. I think it's my turn to take the nap. I don't think I will put my wagon together right now. And I will let the kitchen and laundry kp slide for the time being. zzzzzzzzz
Monday, March 28, 2011
Saturday, March 26, 2011
The second return to the scene
It's cold here today. Not freezing. My thermometer says it is 46 degrees. It rained a little while this morning and I think it must have brought with it a cold front and a drop in the temperature. I usually go about noon to get the mail and here it is two thirty in the afternoon and I am still debating whether to put on a coat to go down to the end of the driveway. The cat always walks with me and she is curled up underneath a blanket asleep in bed with Mike.
Yesterday (Friday the 25th) Mike and I were up really early. I got up a little after five and he woke up at six. I think he had a rough night and woke up several times from a sound sleep. Maybe he was afraid he would not wake up in time because we had a 9:30 a.m. appointment in Little Rock for him to see Dr. Nicholas again. We got on the road a little before 7 a.m. and were at the hospital parking the car before eight. It was no problem for us to find the place where we had parked the car last time and no problem for me to find a wheel chair or for Mike to get into it from the car. That proves he is getting better!!
I wheeled Mike inside out of a chilly morning wind, parked the car across the street and came back quick to take him to the elevators, up to the 7th floor and we signed in and waited to be called by the Doctor. It was really smart of him to get there early. We were sitting there when Dr. Carpenter came out to get himself a cup of coffee and we chatted a minute asking him how the visit a week before with his wife's pregnancy doctor had gone. He could not remember telling us about the fact that he was going to have a baby, but once he realized we already knew, he told us the visit was for a sonogram and they could not yet tell the sex of the baby even though it is due early September. He said this is his 2nd child, that he has a two year old boy and that it does not matter to him what the sex of the new baby is so long as it is born healthy. So far so good.
No one else was there to see Dr. Nicholas yet but us The doctor and his staff apparently arrived early, saw Mike's file waiting and they took us in soon after. Dr. Carpenter removed the rest of Mike's staples and put back a few pieces of bandaid suture at the top of the scar. When Dr. Nicholas came in he seemed really proud of the way Mike was healing. He had not taken any xrays and told us that even if the tumor were to come back that they would not really see it on an xray for about three months. It was only 18 days, so we really don't need to return for another ten weeks unless something drastic happens to the surgery. Mike convinced Dr. Nicholas that he was totally able to take care of the wound himself so Dr. Nicholas told him that he can sleep without his brace when he wants and that it will be okay for him to take a shower (after giving the tiny spots left by the staples 24 hours time to heal over) and get his leg wet. He cautioned against wearing blue jeans for any long period of time and against Mike bending his knee right away and even then to take it slow and said it would be okay for him to put some weight on it, but again, take it slow, only a little at a time until he is used to that effort. Mostly all news was good news. We got a new appointment for sometime in May...so long into the future that Mike is as good as well now...well, well enough to take it slow and go a little at a time back to full use of his knee. Maybe he will never need another surgery for giant cell tumor and maybe he will never need to have a knee replacement! Dr. Nicholas asked us about the physical therapist and told us that he'd be calling us about a checkup but he didn't say Mike would need any more therapy. He told Mike it would be okay to mow so long as he didn't bend his knee or make it hurt.
After all that, good news, there was a problem with someone parking a van in the middle of the roadway when I went back from the parking lot to the building to get M for the ride home so it took awhile for us to get loaded up. It was warming up outside though and the day was pretty and sunshiny for the ride home. After the strain of getting back into the house, Mike was tired, ready to get out of his 'going to the doctor clothes' and back into his bed for something to eat and then a good long sleep. He gets up all by himself now and has gone down to the kitchen, once to get himself something and a 2nd time to look for something for Sonny. I didn't take a nap, so yesterday was just a long day for me. After supper I listened to a story read aloud on Sonny's computer for several chapters and drank a beer with Sonny on a Friday night and when I came back upstairs and got into bed, as soon as I got warm I was asleep, dead to the world around me until I woke up this morning at nine dreaming about a cup of coffee. Mike is an early riser and he told me that he had been waiting for me to wake up because he wanted coffee. That made getting up easier, that and the sun shining through the french doors in the bedroom so that I could see it would be a beautiful day today. That second part didn't work out though, because about eleven there was a short little rain. I didn't notice it even until I saw Red get up from a spot where she had been lying on the bare ground in the back yard and I saw that she'd left a dry spot that was a different color than the rest of the back yard.
I reckon I will post this, then go see if my granddaughter has posted any new pictures of Zoey, my great granddaughter on her facebook page. I miss that little girl and right now she is growing and changing every single day. I can't resist posting a picture her mother took of here here. She is watching her cousin's t-ball game and eating cotton candy. I betcha Zoey thinks the eats and treats are the best part of any sporting event. I used to think that my granddaughter Ashley thought that because she would always want some pocket change to go to the concession stand when she'd go watch her brother Craig play catcher at his games. I probably think like that remembering myself going to outdoor sporting events!
Anyway, this gives me a chance to introduce Zoey to the ones who read this blog, find out that she is the apple (or should I say cracker?) of my eye and make this a start back into talking about why I call myself a walking talking bit of history...
Yesterday (Friday the 25th) Mike and I were up really early. I got up a little after five and he woke up at six. I think he had a rough night and woke up several times from a sound sleep. Maybe he was afraid he would not wake up in time because we had a 9:30 a.m. appointment in Little Rock for him to see Dr. Nicholas again. We got on the road a little before 7 a.m. and were at the hospital parking the car before eight. It was no problem for us to find the place where we had parked the car last time and no problem for me to find a wheel chair or for Mike to get into it from the car. That proves he is getting better!!
I wheeled Mike inside out of a chilly morning wind, parked the car across the street and came back quick to take him to the elevators, up to the 7th floor and we signed in and waited to be called by the Doctor. It was really smart of him to get there early. We were sitting there when Dr. Carpenter came out to get himself a cup of coffee and we chatted a minute asking him how the visit a week before with his wife's pregnancy doctor had gone. He could not remember telling us about the fact that he was going to have a baby, but once he realized we already knew, he told us the visit was for a sonogram and they could not yet tell the sex of the baby even though it is due early September. He said this is his 2nd child, that he has a two year old boy and that it does not matter to him what the sex of the new baby is so long as it is born healthy. So far so good.
No one else was there to see Dr. Nicholas yet but us The doctor and his staff apparently arrived early, saw Mike's file waiting and they took us in soon after. Dr. Carpenter removed the rest of Mike's staples and put back a few pieces of bandaid suture at the top of the scar. When Dr. Nicholas came in he seemed really proud of the way Mike was healing. He had not taken any xrays and told us that even if the tumor were to come back that they would not really see it on an xray for about three months. It was only 18 days, so we really don't need to return for another ten weeks unless something drastic happens to the surgery. Mike convinced Dr. Nicholas that he was totally able to take care of the wound himself so Dr. Nicholas told him that he can sleep without his brace when he wants and that it will be okay for him to take a shower (after giving the tiny spots left by the staples 24 hours time to heal over) and get his leg wet. He cautioned against wearing blue jeans for any long period of time and against Mike bending his knee right away and even then to take it slow and said it would be okay for him to put some weight on it, but again, take it slow, only a little at a time until he is used to that effort. Mostly all news was good news. We got a new appointment for sometime in May...so long into the future that Mike is as good as well now...well, well enough to take it slow and go a little at a time back to full use of his knee. Maybe he will never need another surgery for giant cell tumor and maybe he will never need to have a knee replacement! Dr. Nicholas asked us about the physical therapist and told us that he'd be calling us about a checkup but he didn't say Mike would need any more therapy. He told Mike it would be okay to mow so long as he didn't bend his knee or make it hurt.
After all that, good news, there was a problem with someone parking a van in the middle of the roadway when I went back from the parking lot to the building to get M for the ride home so it took awhile for us to get loaded up. It was warming up outside though and the day was pretty and sunshiny for the ride home. After the strain of getting back into the house, Mike was tired, ready to get out of his 'going to the doctor clothes' and back into his bed for something to eat and then a good long sleep. He gets up all by himself now and has gone down to the kitchen, once to get himself something and a 2nd time to look for something for Sonny. I didn't take a nap, so yesterday was just a long day for me. After supper I listened to a story read aloud on Sonny's computer for several chapters and drank a beer with Sonny on a Friday night and when I came back upstairs and got into bed, as soon as I got warm I was asleep, dead to the world around me until I woke up this morning at nine dreaming about a cup of coffee. Mike is an early riser and he told me that he had been waiting for me to wake up because he wanted coffee. That made getting up easier, that and the sun shining through the french doors in the bedroom so that I could see it would be a beautiful day today. That second part didn't work out though, because about eleven there was a short little rain. I didn't notice it even until I saw Red get up from a spot where she had been lying on the bare ground in the back yard and I saw that she'd left a dry spot that was a different color than the rest of the back yard.
Tuesday, March 22, 2011
Sunday, March 20, 2011
The first return to the scene
I'm not always up at five o'clock in the morning, but today I was. Kayley Cat, wanting attention, jumped up on the dresser below the television and Mike called my name wanting me to take her down. "Do you want to go outside, Kayley? Well, come on, and I'll open the door."
That cat has changed her habit of staying outside all night and coming in to sleep all day on Mike's bed. Now that spring has arrived, she wants to be outside most of the day. But, from what I see, she spends her time outside in the garage sleeping in the seat of the lawn tractor and her time inside sleeping on Mike's computer chair. She does walk down to the mailbox with me every day, so she does stir herself into activity occasionally. I had to laugh yesterday, Saturday, because she was asleep in the bed, having crawled up under a pillow at the foot, when Mark, the physical therapist came about noon. He laid his briefcase on that pillow and Kayley came out looking very confused and made us all laugh.
Speaking of Mark, since I mentioned that he planned to come back to see Mike on Saturday after Mike's visit to UAMS in Little Rock, I need to go back to Friday. We were up early on Friday, but not at five, more like at seven o'clock, getting ready to make the trip back to the hospital at the end of the first week of Mike's recouperation. It was not easy for Mike to get into the car but Mike2 was here to help him get down the three steps in the livingroom and the one-long-step down into the garage and the high step up into the car. I know the trip was hard on him because he wasn't able to find a comfortable way to set the heavy cast down and put his foot on the floor for most of the trip and kept using his hands to pick up his leg a little so he could move it to a new position. Even though the road was not, the trip over to Little Rock was smoothe. Mike didn't even think about plugging in the GPS (He calls it 'she' and has named 'her' Newbie.) until we were on I-630 and very nearly to the hospital itself. Of course Newbie never picked up any signal and Mike knows more than Newbie anyway, so I asked him to watch the road signs and tell me where to turn since he had been there before and knew the route. We went to the front of the hospital, the same place where I had picked him up to bring him home the week before. The hospital transport person on the front deck listened to where we needed to be, spoke to the lady a the information desk, and gave us a map and directions to get to the 'outpatient' cancer clinic. From there it was an easy trip circling around the hospital to the right building where a different transport person brought Mike a wheel chair and took him inside the building while I went into the garage across the street to park the car. I have to tell you that all the people at that hospital are very nice and very good about helping us out and giving us smiles of support no matter where we are. It is all very reassuring and makes the most difficult thing seem as if it were just a breeze.
The first task was to find the 'cast room' to have Mike's pretty blue cast removed. We went back to the very same place where Mike had originally gotten his leg brace and the very same technician who'd fitted Mike for the brace used a little saw to cut the cast in half, take the top half off his leg and wrapped his cotton covered leg in an ace bandage telling Mike that an x-ray could be taken okay with the covering on. It was not hard at all to find x-ray from where we were since we had been there before, but we did have to take a very small elevator to the 4th floor so we could take the walkway across to another building then take another elevator back down to the first floor where the x-ray would be taken. We remembered it, even though the memories had become a little vague. When we got to x-ray there were no orders for Mike and the receptionist recommended that I go tell Dr. Nicholas' office to put Mike into the system, but Mike used the cell phone to call and talk to Dr. Nicholas' nurse Kim and he was 'put into the system' almost immediately after that. His name was called, they removed the metal bits that held his ace bandage, took his x-rays and we took the elevator back to the 4th floor, walked across to the other building, and took another elevator up to the 7th floor where Dr. Nicholas' office was in the cancer clinics.
Dr. Carpenter, the surgeon, came out and talked to Mike awhile to tell him that he was not going to be seeing him that day because his wife had a doctor's appointment for her pregnancy. We congratulated him for his expecting a baby. As soon as Mike signed in, I got our parking ticket validated so I would not need to remember to do that anymore. We waited a little longer but it wasn't long before we were called back for a nurse to take Mike's vital signs, fill out his paperwork and take him to a visiting room. There one of Dr. Nicholas' nurses helped Mike out of his wheel chair and up into an exam chair. She removed the ace bandage, the bottom half of the cast and the cotton batting and uncovered his bare leg. Dr. Nicholas, the oncology orthopedist himself came in. He took the big bandaid off the surgical site and we could see the staples holding Mike's cut skin together. There must have been thrity staples. The entire surgical line looked completely healed over though.
The first thing Mike did when he saw the doctor was to ask not to have the cast put back on. Dr. Nicholas seemed surprised that I had brought Mike's leg brace along but he didn't answer that question at first, just telling Mike that he was only going to remove half the staples and that he was going to put bandaid type sutures in the spots where he took the staples out. He seemed to be delighted at how well the wound was healing. He looked at Mike's x-rays and once again seemed to be delighted--at how well the bone cement was setting and the bone at the top of the tibia was knitting. Then he told Mike that he could leave the cast off and use just the leg brace. He removed about two thirds of the staples from Mike's leg and replaced them with tape type sutures and told Mike he wanted to see him again in a week.
When Dr. Nicholas left the room, the nurse rebandaged Mike's leg and explained to us how to redo it at home. She wrapped her work in an ace bandage, helped Mike put his leg brace on, helped Mike back into his wheel chair and out into the hall. Nurse Kim came and apologized for Mike's not being in the system when he got to x-ray and said something about she'd put in the information in but it had disappeared. (She probably does not realize that Mike knows what can and cannot happen when using a computer.) Then, we were free to go! Back to the entrance and Mike waited in the wheelchair in the foyer while I went to the parking garage, found the car, turned in the parking ticket at the exit and wound my way back to where Mike was waiting. One of the hospital transport people offered to help Mike into the car, but he didn't need any help. I think he felt like he was light as a feather without that heavy cast on his leg. He didn't even need a walker or crutches to push himself up out of his chair on one leg, turn and pull himself up high into the car seat.
The trip back to Bismarck was smooth, apparently, since Mike was able to make himself comfortable. He did ask me once if there were some pillows in the car, so I know it was not perfectly easy for him, and I did stop in Malvern at Walmart to pick up some things we were running low on and some fresh bananas and a tomato, knowing neither would go to waste but we were back home again a little after one. An easy trip! Mike2 came to help Mike back up the steps he would need to negotiate on his crutches, but mostly Mike didn't need any help. Without the cast, he didn't have any trouble at all. He was tired though and as soon as he ate some lunch he fell fast asleep for a time.
Since then, being back home, Mike has not been taking his pain medication other than tylenol. He uses his walker to get to the bathroom and into the computer room and although he has not gone downstairs and has spent most of his time in his bed with his leg propped up on a pillow, he has been quite capable of doing things for himself and has barely called me to come and help him. When I did my shopping last Wednesday, though, I had a coupon for Reese's Pieces miniatures and since I had to buy two bags to get one free, I got both the regular ones and a bag of dark chocolate ones. Mike seems to love his Reese's and have a special liking for the dark chocolate so he has asked me a few times to go get him some Reese's. Other than bringing Mike food and drink from down in the kitchen and the pantry, I have not been on call. Yesterday Mike2 and I drove to the trash dump. I went for a walk down to the mailbox in the morning and in the evening I raked dead leaves and sticks and sweet gum balls into a pile and lit a fire outside and at night I watched episodes of Kitchen Nightmares and 30-Rock with Mike2 and Mike didn't even miss me.
Yesterday afternoon Mike went into the bathroom all by himself (with his walker) and cleaned up, washed his hair, brushed his teeth, shaved and changed clothes and the only time I helped was when I offered to get him clean clothes. I didn't help him put them on though. He is doing everything himself. And he seems to be taking very good care of his leg to boot! (pun intended!) I saw him twice doing his exercises and watched while he rearranged his pillows to continue keeping his leg raised. He changed the settings on his brace to match the bend where the cast had kept it. He told me that today he is planning to take a shower sitting in a chair using the hand held sprayer. Mark the physical therapist, when he came yesterday just talked to Mike for awhile then cancelled both his Tuesday and Thursday appointments. He'll call before he returns next.
Mike already has his schedule to go back to see Dr. Nicholas next Friday at nine in the morning. And after that if all is well he'll go back once a month for a time just to be sure that no regrowth of the tumor takes place. Mike got the statement from the hospital in the mail yesterday and his surgery and his 3 extra days in the hospital cost over $14,000. Thank goodness we went to a University Hospital and thank goodness for the Medicare and Windsor Insurance that covers some of that. I hope we are not too much out of pocket. Just to make me smile, though, along with the hospital bill came a $40 rebate from EVGA on a video card we bought and a $20 check from a class action dryer duct settlement. God works in wonderous ways! Mysterious, but amazing and wonderous nevertheless! From the looks of the day it is going to be a very pleasant and peaceful Sunday today!
That cat has changed her habit of staying outside all night and coming in to sleep all day on Mike's bed. Now that spring has arrived, she wants to be outside most of the day. But, from what I see, she spends her time outside in the garage sleeping in the seat of the lawn tractor and her time inside sleeping on Mike's computer chair. She does walk down to the mailbox with me every day, so she does stir herself into activity occasionally. I had to laugh yesterday, Saturday, because she was asleep in the bed, having crawled up under a pillow at the foot, when Mark, the physical therapist came about noon. He laid his briefcase on that pillow and Kayley came out looking very confused and made us all laugh.
Speaking of Mark, since I mentioned that he planned to come back to see Mike on Saturday after Mike's visit to UAMS in Little Rock, I need to go back to Friday. We were up early on Friday, but not at five, more like at seven o'clock, getting ready to make the trip back to the hospital at the end of the first week of Mike's recouperation. It was not easy for Mike to get into the car but Mike2 was here to help him get down the three steps in the livingroom and the one-long-step down into the garage and the high step up into the car. I know the trip was hard on him because he wasn't able to find a comfortable way to set the heavy cast down and put his foot on the floor for most of the trip and kept using his hands to pick up his leg a little so he could move it to a new position. Even though the road was not, the trip over to Little Rock was smoothe. Mike didn't even think about plugging in the GPS (He calls it 'she' and has named 'her' Newbie.) until we were on I-630 and very nearly to the hospital itself. Of course Newbie never picked up any signal and Mike knows more than Newbie anyway, so I asked him to watch the road signs and tell me where to turn since he had been there before and knew the route. We went to the front of the hospital, the same place where I had picked him up to bring him home the week before. The hospital transport person on the front deck listened to where we needed to be, spoke to the lady a the information desk, and gave us a map and directions to get to the 'outpatient' cancer clinic. From there it was an easy trip circling around the hospital to the right building where a different transport person brought Mike a wheel chair and took him inside the building while I went into the garage across the street to park the car. I have to tell you that all the people at that hospital are very nice and very good about helping us out and giving us smiles of support no matter where we are. It is all very reassuring and makes the most difficult thing seem as if it were just a breeze.
The first task was to find the 'cast room' to have Mike's pretty blue cast removed. We went back to the very same place where Mike had originally gotten his leg brace and the very same technician who'd fitted Mike for the brace used a little saw to cut the cast in half, take the top half off his leg and wrapped his cotton covered leg in an ace bandage telling Mike that an x-ray could be taken okay with the covering on. It was not hard at all to find x-ray from where we were since we had been there before, but we did have to take a very small elevator to the 4th floor so we could take the walkway across to another building then take another elevator back down to the first floor where the x-ray would be taken. We remembered it, even though the memories had become a little vague. When we got to x-ray there were no orders for Mike and the receptionist recommended that I go tell Dr. Nicholas' office to put Mike into the system, but Mike used the cell phone to call and talk to Dr. Nicholas' nurse Kim and he was 'put into the system' almost immediately after that. His name was called, they removed the metal bits that held his ace bandage, took his x-rays and we took the elevator back to the 4th floor, walked across to the other building, and took another elevator up to the 7th floor where Dr. Nicholas' office was in the cancer clinics.
Dr. Carpenter, the surgeon, came out and talked to Mike awhile to tell him that he was not going to be seeing him that day because his wife had a doctor's appointment for her pregnancy. We congratulated him for his expecting a baby. As soon as Mike signed in, I got our parking ticket validated so I would not need to remember to do that anymore. We waited a little longer but it wasn't long before we were called back for a nurse to take Mike's vital signs, fill out his paperwork and take him to a visiting room. There one of Dr. Nicholas' nurses helped Mike out of his wheel chair and up into an exam chair. She removed the ace bandage, the bottom half of the cast and the cotton batting and uncovered his bare leg. Dr. Nicholas, the oncology orthopedist himself came in. He took the big bandaid off the surgical site and we could see the staples holding Mike's cut skin together. There must have been thrity staples. The entire surgical line looked completely healed over though.
The first thing Mike did when he saw the doctor was to ask not to have the cast put back on. Dr. Nicholas seemed surprised that I had brought Mike's leg brace along but he didn't answer that question at first, just telling Mike that he was only going to remove half the staples and that he was going to put bandaid type sutures in the spots where he took the staples out. He seemed to be delighted at how well the wound was healing. He looked at Mike's x-rays and once again seemed to be delighted--at how well the bone cement was setting and the bone at the top of the tibia was knitting. Then he told Mike that he could leave the cast off and use just the leg brace. He removed about two thirds of the staples from Mike's leg and replaced them with tape type sutures and told Mike he wanted to see him again in a week.
When Dr. Nicholas left the room, the nurse rebandaged Mike's leg and explained to us how to redo it at home. She wrapped her work in an ace bandage, helped Mike put his leg brace on, helped Mike back into his wheel chair and out into the hall. Nurse Kim came and apologized for Mike's not being in the system when he got to x-ray and said something about she'd put in the information in but it had disappeared. (She probably does not realize that Mike knows what can and cannot happen when using a computer.) Then, we were free to go! Back to the entrance and Mike waited in the wheelchair in the foyer while I went to the parking garage, found the car, turned in the parking ticket at the exit and wound my way back to where Mike was waiting. One of the hospital transport people offered to help Mike into the car, but he didn't need any help. I think he felt like he was light as a feather without that heavy cast on his leg. He didn't even need a walker or crutches to push himself up out of his chair on one leg, turn and pull himself up high into the car seat.
The trip back to Bismarck was smooth, apparently, since Mike was able to make himself comfortable. He did ask me once if there were some pillows in the car, so I know it was not perfectly easy for him, and I did stop in Malvern at Walmart to pick up some things we were running low on and some fresh bananas and a tomato, knowing neither would go to waste but we were back home again a little after one. An easy trip! Mike2 came to help Mike back up the steps he would need to negotiate on his crutches, but mostly Mike didn't need any help. Without the cast, he didn't have any trouble at all. He was tired though and as soon as he ate some lunch he fell fast asleep for a time.
Since then, being back home, Mike has not been taking his pain medication other than tylenol. He uses his walker to get to the bathroom and into the computer room and although he has not gone downstairs and has spent most of his time in his bed with his leg propped up on a pillow, he has been quite capable of doing things for himself and has barely called me to come and help him. When I did my shopping last Wednesday, though, I had a coupon for Reese's Pieces miniatures and since I had to buy two bags to get one free, I got both the regular ones and a bag of dark chocolate ones. Mike seems to love his Reese's and have a special liking for the dark chocolate so he has asked me a few times to go get him some Reese's. Other than bringing Mike food and drink from down in the kitchen and the pantry, I have not been on call. Yesterday Mike2 and I drove to the trash dump. I went for a walk down to the mailbox in the morning and in the evening I raked dead leaves and sticks and sweet gum balls into a pile and lit a fire outside and at night I watched episodes of Kitchen Nightmares and 30-Rock with Mike2 and Mike didn't even miss me.
Yesterday afternoon Mike went into the bathroom all by himself (with his walker) and cleaned up, washed his hair, brushed his teeth, shaved and changed clothes and the only time I helped was when I offered to get him clean clothes. I didn't help him put them on though. He is doing everything himself. And he seems to be taking very good care of his leg to boot! (pun intended!) I saw him twice doing his exercises and watched while he rearranged his pillows to continue keeping his leg raised. He changed the settings on his brace to match the bend where the cast had kept it. He told me that today he is planning to take a shower sitting in a chair using the hand held sprayer. Mark the physical therapist, when he came yesterday just talked to Mike for awhile then cancelled both his Tuesday and Thursday appointments. He'll call before he returns next.
Mike already has his schedule to go back to see Dr. Nicholas next Friday at nine in the morning. And after that if all is well he'll go back once a month for a time just to be sure that no regrowth of the tumor takes place. Mike got the statement from the hospital in the mail yesterday and his surgery and his 3 extra days in the hospital cost over $14,000. Thank goodness we went to a University Hospital and thank goodness for the Medicare and Windsor Insurance that covers some of that. I hope we are not too much out of pocket. Just to make me smile, though, along with the hospital bill came a $40 rebate from EVGA on a video card we bought and a $20 check from a class action dryer duct settlement. God works in wonderous ways! Mysterious, but amazing and wonderous nevertheless! From the looks of the day it is going to be a very pleasant and peaceful Sunday today!
Thursday, March 17, 2011
A week of healing
Mike is much better today than he was yesterday. And yesterday he was better than the day before. Monday Mike's leg and foot were swollen and he kept ice on it all of the day. He was worn out after doing his exercises and needed rest after only getting out of bed to stand for a few minutes with his walker. Tuesday he got out of bed early in the morning and walked to the bathroom and did a little personal hygiene and sprucing up and clothes changing before he was tired and ready to go back to bed. A physical therapist named Mark came just before noon and stayed awhile, going over his exercises and explaining what each exercise would accomplish. He was glad to see Mike had been doing every one of them ten times each twice a day. He told Mike to increase them from ten times each and do fifteen. Little did he know that Mike had already done the ten times each and was fitting in a second bout of fifteen times each while he was there. And that didn't stop him from doing them all again at night. I stayed close and watched, but he didn't need much help to raise his cast and once he got out of bed all by himself, pulling his walker over with the handle of his cane. Still, the work wore him out and he seemed glad to get back into bed after each work out. He isn't on any special diet so I've been making every attempt to fix him food that he likes and his appetite has returned.
Wednesday, I got up early to get ready to go to Hot Springs. I have a friend there that I have been helping out. She is going through a divorce. She is from Czechoslovakia and although she speaks English very well, she has a hard time writing. She had asked me to if I would help her to write some letters to gather evidence to be presented in her court case. I made plans to stop by her house to do the writing on her computer for her so she could print it out. And I needed to do some shopping because shopping has been one of the things I have not been doing lately and we needed milk and bread and eggs and I wanted to get lots of other food to fix for Mike's meals. I also wanted to surprise him by going by and picking up a 'to go' order from our little sushi restaurant in Hot Springs. Mike does love sushi.
The hospital in Little Rock called to say that Mike needs to return there on Friday at ten to have the staples from his surgery removed from his leg, so we'll need to go in early to have the cast removed and have some xrays taken, then he will see the doctor for more information about the progress of his healing and find out what we can expect in the future. I meant to fill the gas tank in the car while I was in Hot Springs but there was so much to be done that forgot that. I woke Mike2 before I left, to let him know that he needed to look in on Mike and I gave him a walkie talkie so that Mike could call him if he needed anything, but I still didn't want to be gone for any long time...so when I started the trip toward home, stopping for gas slipped my mind completely. Other than that, I reckon we are ready to go on Friday. None of us is looking forward to Mike having to go down the steps and to the car to make that trip, but we are ready to be there so we can find out more about this healing process and how long this recouperation will take and when he'll be able to use his leg again. Already he is telling Mike2 things that he would normally take care of himself . Mike2 will have to mow the front lawn and till the garden and change out the water filters and feed the animals. Thank goodness he is here to help Mike go down the stairs and get into the car come Friday!
I took pictures of the springtime here so I can remember the front lawn that is a field of purple and white wildflowers. They'll be mowed down soon. The blossoms on the pear trees out front are already blowing off the branches and covering the ground underneath the them with white petals. They'll be completely green soon. Right now, the view from my front windows is beautiful, completely different than what I saw in the winter. The bare branches of the trees have little green buds and soon they'll leaf out. It's time to plant the garden, but I think it'll be late this year!
Meanwhile, Mike has gotten out of bed several times today, even going to sit at his computer and chat a bit with his son in law. By Friday, going to Little Rock won't be a big step for Mike the stepper!
Wednesday, I got up early to get ready to go to Hot Springs. I have a friend there that I have been helping out. She is going through a divorce. She is from Czechoslovakia and although she speaks English very well, she has a hard time writing. She had asked me to if I would help her to write some letters to gather evidence to be presented in her court case. I made plans to stop by her house to do the writing on her computer for her so she could print it out. And I needed to do some shopping because shopping has been one of the things I have not been doing lately and we needed milk and bread and eggs and I wanted to get lots of other food to fix for Mike's meals. I also wanted to surprise him by going by and picking up a 'to go' order from our little sushi restaurant in Hot Springs. Mike does love sushi.
The hospital in Little Rock called to say that Mike needs to return there on Friday at ten to have the staples from his surgery removed from his leg, so we'll need to go in early to have the cast removed and have some xrays taken, then he will see the doctor for more information about the progress of his healing and find out what we can expect in the future. I meant to fill the gas tank in the car while I was in Hot Springs but there was so much to be done that forgot that. I woke Mike2 before I left, to let him know that he needed to look in on Mike and I gave him a walkie talkie so that Mike could call him if he needed anything, but I still didn't want to be gone for any long time...so when I started the trip toward home, stopping for gas slipped my mind completely. Other than that, I reckon we are ready to go on Friday. None of us is looking forward to Mike having to go down the steps and to the car to make that trip, but we are ready to be there so we can find out more about this healing process and how long this recouperation will take and when he'll be able to use his leg again. Already he is telling Mike2 things that he would normally take care of himself . Mike2 will have to mow the front lawn and till the garden and change out the water filters and feed the animals. Thank goodness he is here to help Mike go down the stairs and get into the car come Friday!
I took pictures of the springtime here so I can remember the front lawn that is a field of purple and white wildflowers. They'll be mowed down soon. The blossoms on the pear trees out front are already blowing off the branches and covering the ground underneath the them with white petals. They'll be completely green soon. Right now, the view from my front windows is beautiful, completely different than what I saw in the winter. The bare branches of the trees have little green buds and soon they'll leaf out. It's time to plant the garden, but I think it'll be late this year!
Meanwhile, Mike has gotten out of bed several times today, even going to sit at his computer and chat a bit with his son in law. By Friday, going to Little Rock won't be a big step for Mike the stepper!
Sunday, March 13, 2011
The time it is a changin'
All is well. Mike is at home in his own bed and can get around using his walker or his crutches. None of it is easy for him, but it gets better little by little. He is a really good patient, listening, hearing what all the doctors and nurses and technicians have told him. practicing his exercises and his breathing, keeping up with a good diet and handling his own medication just the way he was told to do.
Things have changed so much over the years. Looking at Mike's IV line, one shot in his hand made me think about when I was young and had my tonsils out and got so many shots in my right and left hips that I was not comfortable no matter how I'd lay and the doctor was looking for a new place to poke a needle for my antibiotic, which was pennicilliin since there was no other when I was twelve. I am not sure that there would have been a way for them to do surgery on my knee without crippling me, or to fill an empty spot in my bone with cement. I don't think anyone had invented bone cement yet in 1959. The only thing I could see that had not changed were the hospital gowns that barely covered Mike and only closed and tied in two places...but even those were better...with snaps on the shoulders so they could be removed without going over a patient's head. Everything seems to change a little at a time...and later when you look back you are startled to see how far things have progressed.
Today is a beautiful day in this neighborhood. A peaceful Sunday that makes it nice to open windows and makes me want to take my camera outside to make photographs of the wildflowers and grass stalks that abound in my yard. I have spoken to my father via microphone using my Yahoo voice program and Mike has spoken to his 75 year old mother via telephone. Both are fine and both are experiencing the same lovely springtime as the two of us.
Things have changed so much over the years. Looking at Mike's IV line, one shot in his hand made me think about when I was young and had my tonsils out and got so many shots in my right and left hips that I was not comfortable no matter how I'd lay and the doctor was looking for a new place to poke a needle for my antibiotic, which was pennicilliin since there was no other when I was twelve. I am not sure that there would have been a way for them to do surgery on my knee without crippling me, or to fill an empty spot in my bone with cement. I don't think anyone had invented bone cement yet in 1959. The only thing I could see that had not changed were the hospital gowns that barely covered Mike and only closed and tied in two places...but even those were better...with snaps on the shoulders so they could be removed without going over a patient's head. Everything seems to change a little at a time...and later when you look back you are startled to see how far things have progressed.
Today is a beautiful day in this neighborhood. A peaceful Sunday that makes it nice to open windows and makes me want to take my camera outside to make photographs of the wildflowers and grass stalks that abound in my yard. I have spoken to my father via microphone using my Yahoo voice program and Mike has spoken to his 75 year old mother via telephone. Both are fine and both are experiencing the same lovely springtime as the two of us.
Friday, March 11, 2011
...from full speed ahead to dead stop
Was it only a little over 12 hours ago that I was sitting here writing, rushing time because I was ready to start this day? Maybe I should have been relaxing instead of blogging because it was a very busy, very tiring day. I was dressed and ready to head into Hot Springs between 7 and 8 this morning. Mike got me up at five and there was no place open to fill his pain prescription until 8 at the earliest. You have to know by 8 a.m. I was at the Kroger store in Hot Springs handing my prescription to the druggist behind the window. Before I left, I fed Mike and woke Sonny and fed him too and put the cat outside and remembered that it is Friday and put on a red shirt. At the Kroger pharmacy the lady behind the window explained what medication I had picked up and told me that it was very strong and she told me what side effects to watch for and what not to take with it at the same time.
Whatever pain medication the doctor gave to Mike, it was fast working. When I got home and gave him one of the pills, he seemed to feel better right away and even napped some. I did help him to raise his leg and put pillows under it to hold it in a raised position. And I did fill the ice pack and put that on his ankle to ease the swelling. It was about then that we started getting news reports about the earthquakes in Japan and word that they expected several tsunamis to follow. How awful! If you think your luck is bad or that you are feeling bad...there is always someone else who has life worse than you do!
A home health nurse from Hot Springs called at ten to say she would come by in half an hour to evaluate his condition. She had apparently been in Bismarck and when she realized that another patient was nearby, drove on over to do a visit here. She was really nice. I am not sure that she will ever come back since she was only here to do an evaluation and let us know that Mike would most likely be getting physical therapy only and no health care here at home. She did check his vital signs though, and the pulse in his foot and she let us know that all is well and that the swelling, although it hurts Mike, is a normal part of his healing. She watched him do his breathing routine and listened to his heartbeat and talked some about his blood pressure and told us what to watch out for. She recommended that he continue the same routine as the hospital for a little while including his using his breathing tool and his getting out of the bed in the morning and afternoon to maintain his lung function and his muscle tone and said to continue eating routine light meals 3 times a day until he started feeling better. She checked out his medications and answered our questions. She wasn't here long, but it was very nice of her to visit and very reassuring...
More busyness fixing Mike a light lunch. Actually it was Sonny who fixed lunch. I'd fixed mashed potatoes and he added chicken nuggets and white gravy to round out a meal. After a little kitchen cleaning I fitted in a little Mike time and helped him get out of bed and walk a little bit with his walker. I have a lot of laundry to catch up with and quite a bit of cleaning up and putting away. When we got in last night I simply brought everything inside and found a place to dump it, ran in to remake the bed while Mike was sitting in his office chair, and it is all the things I meant to get done are waiting for me still. But you know how it is...we had to watch American Idol!
This afternoon at 3:30 a physical therapist named Ashley came. He, too, was here just to do an evaluation. He let us know that there would be a therapist (named Mark) who would be coming by probably on Tuesday. Ashley checked out what Mike had learned in the hospital from the therapists there and went over some exercises for him to do a couple of times a day. The therapist watched Mike do his exercises, added a new one to the ones he was already doing and watched Mike while he got out of the bed and while he took a few steps with his walker and a few steps with his crutches and made a few recommendations to help him do better. His was not a long visit either, but it made us both feel good to know that we are doing the right things and gave us a lot of hope that the nurse and the therapist had seen cases like ours before and both seemed to think we are doing the right things.
This evening before Mike's supper I ran into Bismarck to pick up a couple things that Mike said he needed and back at home Sonny and I fixed his a little supper. Now it's quiet after supper and I sat down to write a little on this blog thinking it would help to relax me. I still have some cleaning up to get done and some phone calls I should answer, but I might just put all the rest of it off until tomorrow and go lie down with Mike and maybe even get some sleep. I do hope that tomorrow does not begin as early as today.
Whatever pain medication the doctor gave to Mike, it was fast working. When I got home and gave him one of the pills, he seemed to feel better right away and even napped some. I did help him to raise his leg and put pillows under it to hold it in a raised position. And I did fill the ice pack and put that on his ankle to ease the swelling. It was about then that we started getting news reports about the earthquakes in Japan and word that they expected several tsunamis to follow. How awful! If you think your luck is bad or that you are feeling bad...there is always someone else who has life worse than you do!
A home health nurse from Hot Springs called at ten to say she would come by in half an hour to evaluate his condition. She had apparently been in Bismarck and when she realized that another patient was nearby, drove on over to do a visit here. She was really nice. I am not sure that she will ever come back since she was only here to do an evaluation and let us know that Mike would most likely be getting physical therapy only and no health care here at home. She did check his vital signs though, and the pulse in his foot and she let us know that all is well and that the swelling, although it hurts Mike, is a normal part of his healing. She watched him do his breathing routine and listened to his heartbeat and talked some about his blood pressure and told us what to watch out for. She recommended that he continue the same routine as the hospital for a little while including his using his breathing tool and his getting out of the bed in the morning and afternoon to maintain his lung function and his muscle tone and said to continue eating routine light meals 3 times a day until he started feeling better. She checked out his medications and answered our questions. She wasn't here long, but it was very nice of her to visit and very reassuring...
More busyness fixing Mike a light lunch. Actually it was Sonny who fixed lunch. I'd fixed mashed potatoes and he added chicken nuggets and white gravy to round out a meal. After a little kitchen cleaning I fitted in a little Mike time and helped him get out of bed and walk a little bit with his walker. I have a lot of laundry to catch up with and quite a bit of cleaning up and putting away. When we got in last night I simply brought everything inside and found a place to dump it, ran in to remake the bed while Mike was sitting in his office chair, and it is all the things I meant to get done are waiting for me still. But you know how it is...we had to watch American Idol!
This afternoon at 3:30 a physical therapist named Ashley came. He, too, was here just to do an evaluation. He let us know that there would be a therapist (named Mark) who would be coming by probably on Tuesday. Ashley checked out what Mike had learned in the hospital from the therapists there and went over some exercises for him to do a couple of times a day. The therapist watched Mike do his exercises, added a new one to the ones he was already doing and watched Mike while he got out of the bed and while he took a few steps with his walker and a few steps with his crutches and made a few recommendations to help him do better. His was not a long visit either, but it made us both feel good to know that we are doing the right things and gave us a lot of hope that the nurse and the therapist had seen cases like ours before and both seemed to think we are doing the right things.
This evening before Mike's supper I ran into Bismarck to pick up a couple things that Mike said he needed and back at home Sonny and I fixed his a little supper. Now it's quiet after supper and I sat down to write a little on this blog thinking it would help to relax me. I still have some cleaning up to get done and some phone calls I should answer, but I might just put all the rest of it off until tomorrow and go lie down with Mike and maybe even get some sleep. I do hope that tomorrow does not begin as early as today.
Home
And finally about six o'clock yesterday evening, Doctor Carpenter, thank goodness, came and got the procedures going to release us from the hospital. Mike's nurse brought his last pain medicine, thank goodness, because he is still going on that final dose. A hospital transporter brought a cart for our bags, the computer bag, our coats, walker, crutches, leg brace, plenty to fill the cart. Another transporter brought a wheel chair for Mike. One holdup...the battery was dead on the car when I went to offload the cart. The one who had brought me the cart sent the police to help me out. It seemed like forever, and I guess it was about half an hour, before finally and a little girl policeman came with one of those little instant energy packs, hooked it up to my battery and we had power to start the car! Thank goodness again! I followed the exit signs out of the parking garage, turned in my free parking pass and got directions about how to get to the front door....and went to pick up Mike.
Mike's transporter was a big man...thank goodness, because the Isuzu is high up off the ground. Mike sat in the front seat, another thank goodness because I am not at all sure the would have been very happy sitting in the back if that had been the best choice. The rest of the trip was rather uneventful although Mike was afraid for me to drive fast and kept telling me to slow down so I would not have any need to brake hard, but it was okay. The only problem I saw at all was that by the time we passed the Walmart in Malvern where I was going to fill his pain prescription...it was already after nine and the pharmacy closed.
Sonny was here, thank goodness, to help him when Mike got out of the car...and help him up the step in the garage into the kitchen and help him up the 3 steps of the split level so he could get to his bed. At the top of the steps Mike sat down in his office chair and 'rode' the rest of the way down the hall to his bedroom.
Mike didn't have a very good night, but it was as good as can be expected I reckon. His foot is very swollen this morning so he has taken some aspirin and has it propped up high with an ice bag on the ankle. I hope all that helps, because I can't go fill his pain prescriptions until 8 o'clock this morning and then I'll need to drive back home to Bismarck so I hope he can get some kind of sleep, or that the pain will ease. On a lighter note, Mike is better able to use his own power to lift his leg with the cast on it somewhat, and after a couple sessions of his physical therapy he knows how to go up steps and to sit and stand and lie down on the bed. He still needs help to lift the cast up much of the time, but maybe in a few days I'll look back and realize how far he has come because right now I am thinking back to when he could not use his leg with the cast on it at all even to put it up on a pillow at the foot of the bed.
It's early, but I'm up. The cat is lying down on the back of my chair, silly thing. It's like she is glad to see us back home again (although Sonny closed his bedroom door with her on the outside of it so even if she preferred to go sleep in his chair in there, she didn't have much choice to be around anyone except Mike and me.) It is good to be home although already I have had to be busy changing the sheets, cleaning off counters, making plans to clean off tables to put the things Mike needs close at hand. I have washed my hands twenty times just to be sure I am not spreading any germs. It is not nearly so clean at home as it was at the hospital. I think I need to go see what I can fix him to eat for breakfast. Maybe that will help him to sleep while I drive to Hot Springs to fill up his prescriptions.
And with one final 'thank goodness' I am moving on to get some of the things I mentioned completed...
Mike's transporter was a big man...thank goodness, because the Isuzu is high up off the ground. Mike sat in the front seat, another thank goodness because I am not at all sure the would have been very happy sitting in the back if that had been the best choice. The rest of the trip was rather uneventful although Mike was afraid for me to drive fast and kept telling me to slow down so I would not have any need to brake hard, but it was okay. The only problem I saw at all was that by the time we passed the Walmart in Malvern where I was going to fill his pain prescription...it was already after nine and the pharmacy closed.
Sonny was here, thank goodness, to help him when Mike got out of the car...and help him up the step in the garage into the kitchen and help him up the 3 steps of the split level so he could get to his bed. At the top of the steps Mike sat down in his office chair and 'rode' the rest of the way down the hall to his bedroom.
Mike didn't have a very good night, but it was as good as can be expected I reckon. His foot is very swollen this morning so he has taken some aspirin and has it propped up high with an ice bag on the ankle. I hope all that helps, because I can't go fill his pain prescriptions until 8 o'clock this morning and then I'll need to drive back home to Bismarck so I hope he can get some kind of sleep, or that the pain will ease. On a lighter note, Mike is better able to use his own power to lift his leg with the cast on it somewhat, and after a couple sessions of his physical therapy he knows how to go up steps and to sit and stand and lie down on the bed. He still needs help to lift the cast up much of the time, but maybe in a few days I'll look back and realize how far he has come because right now I am thinking back to when he could not use his leg with the cast on it at all even to put it up on a pillow at the foot of the bed.
It's early, but I'm up. The cat is lying down on the back of my chair, silly thing. It's like she is glad to see us back home again (although Sonny closed his bedroom door with her on the outside of it so even if she preferred to go sleep in his chair in there, she didn't have much choice to be around anyone except Mike and me.) It is good to be home although already I have had to be busy changing the sheets, cleaning off counters, making plans to clean off tables to put the things Mike needs close at hand. I have washed my hands twenty times just to be sure I am not spreading any germs. It is not nearly so clean at home as it was at the hospital. I think I need to go see what I can fix him to eat for breakfast. Maybe that will help him to sleep while I drive to Hot Springs to fill up his prescriptions.
And with one final 'thank goodness' I am moving on to get some of the things I mentioned completed...
Thursday, March 10, 2011
...from complete stop to full speed ahead
Yesterday in the late afternoon Mike got a cast on his knee to keep his leg immobile. He'd waited all day, since 7 when Dr. Nicholas told him to expect it. He is learning, a little at a time, to carry the cast while keeping his leg elevated even though you can tell his leg continues to hurt him. It was after four when he got the cast, but the physical therapy transporter came and got him and took him down so he could learn how to move himself and do a few things even though he has a cast and needs to keep his leg straight. When the leg hurts him less I hope he is able to walk much like normal on his crutches...but right now it looks painful and the thought of him needing to go up a few steps when he gets home is a little scary to me...probably a lot scary to him. We had both caught up on our rest and last night we didn't sleep much. A lazy time, waiting again to find out more about going home. We watched American Idol on tv and that took up an hour of time. Mostly we just sat quietly waiting.
Today after breakfast Physical Therapy came to get him again and now the hospital repair staff is in this room working on fixing the nurse call system while he is gone. I am putting off doing anything like getting dressed and brushing my hair since the nurse call system is connected in the bathroom and above the bed both. As soon as they are finished I'll take care of those things so when Mike comes back I'll be ready for us to be discharged. I am not sure what effect my not having taken any of my blood pressure medication will have on me, but since I didn't think I would stay here I didn't bring along anything...like clean clothes or extra medication.
While the work crew makes its repairs I am putting a quick note here, thinking that if I actually mention it out loud the moving of Mike from the car into the house and up the steps to his bed, it won't be all that bad.
I will be glad to get back to the normal even though it still entails my waiting on Mike while his leg heals and tending to him. I am waiting to see how it will be driving to his appointments and other things that are new to me, driving home from Little Rock, coming back to Little Rock for checkups to be sure all is well. Even having a home health nurse come by for more physical therapy will be new. And the probability of Mike having a replacement knee surgery still looms. I'll deal with that later.
I can't help but remember Scarlet O'hara, "I'll think about that later."
Today after breakfast Physical Therapy came to get him again and now the hospital repair staff is in this room working on fixing the nurse call system while he is gone. I am putting off doing anything like getting dressed and brushing my hair since the nurse call system is connected in the bathroom and above the bed both. As soon as they are finished I'll take care of those things so when Mike comes back I'll be ready for us to be discharged. I am not sure what effect my not having taken any of my blood pressure medication will have on me, but since I didn't think I would stay here I didn't bring along anything...like clean clothes or extra medication.
While the work crew makes its repairs I am putting a quick note here, thinking that if I actually mention it out loud the moving of Mike from the car into the house and up the steps to his bed, it won't be all that bad.
I will be glad to get back to the normal even though it still entails my waiting on Mike while his leg heals and tending to him. I am waiting to see how it will be driving to his appointments and other things that are new to me, driving home from Little Rock, coming back to Little Rock for checkups to be sure all is well. Even having a home health nurse come by for more physical therapy will be new. And the probability of Mike having a replacement knee surgery still looms. I'll deal with that later.
I can't help but remember Scarlet O'hara, "I'll think about that later."
Wednesday, March 9, 2011
There'll be a change in the weather. There's a change in the sea...
Yesterday (March 8) about four in the afternoon Dr. Carpenter and Dr. Nicholas both came to Mike's room to talk to him. I had thought it was the promised visit where Dr. Nicholas would tell Mike all about his surgery to come on Thursday morning. But that was not the case...(Maybe I do understand why they call what doctors do 'practice'.)
No surgery scheduled. Yet. Instead tomorrow/today/on Wednesday, Mike will get a cast on his leg to keep it immobile for the present time and he will be allowed to go home, then come back in about a week...on Friday, March 18 for his leg to be checked and more than likely his staples from the surgery on Monday will be removed. We'll see how well he will be doing then. Meanwhile he'll be on crutches...a thing he will be taught how to walk with today with his new cast on. Mike will visit the doctor to see how well he heals, at first once a week, then once a month If he is not able to walk with a cast on crutches today or if he is not doing well we'll stay again tonight and go home tomorrow. He seems to be doing fine though, so we might be released to go home tonight for Mike to sleep in his own bed and we'll be back to the norm..except that Mike will be carrying a cast on his leg while he moves around with crutches, while his leg heals from his tumor removal surgery. There does not seem to be a lot of hope that his tibia will heal and that he'll be able to walk on it again....but it will be given a chance to heal before a surgery so invasive as a knee replacement.
That's what we had planned in the beginning. No plan B! We are planning to go home. And I will be glad of it It matters little to me whether Mike is recouperating from tumor removal surgery or knee replacement surgery. I'll be watching him heal either way. And it seems to me as if Mike wants to give this current surgery a chance to heal rather than go in for a new one tomorrow... it's still the same!
From now on there'll be a change in me. My walk will be different, my talk and my name. Nothing about me gonna be the same...I'm gonna change my way of living, and if that ain't enough, I'll even change the way I strut my stuff....There'll be some changes made
And we change back to the same. (Except that I'll have a change of clothes. I only brought what I was wearing and a set of scrubs to wear at night thinking we'd be back home by today!)
I invited Mike to write here...and maybe he will. Or maybe he will google and chatter on his own blog. It's all the same to me...Nobody loves you when you are old and grey. There'll be some changes made!
No surgery scheduled. Yet. Instead tomorrow/today/on Wednesday, Mike will get a cast on his leg to keep it immobile for the present time and he will be allowed to go home, then come back in about a week...on Friday, March 18 for his leg to be checked and more than likely his staples from the surgery on Monday will be removed. We'll see how well he will be doing then. Meanwhile he'll be on crutches...a thing he will be taught how to walk with today with his new cast on. Mike will visit the doctor to see how well he heals, at first once a week, then once a month If he is not able to walk with a cast on crutches today or if he is not doing well we'll stay again tonight and go home tomorrow. He seems to be doing fine though, so we might be released to go home tonight for Mike to sleep in his own bed and we'll be back to the norm..except that Mike will be carrying a cast on his leg while he moves around with crutches, while his leg heals from his tumor removal surgery. There does not seem to be a lot of hope that his tibia will heal and that he'll be able to walk on it again....but it will be given a chance to heal before a surgery so invasive as a knee replacement.
That's what we had planned in the beginning. No plan B! We are planning to go home. And I will be glad of it It matters little to me whether Mike is recouperating from tumor removal surgery or knee replacement surgery. I'll be watching him heal either way. And it seems to me as if Mike wants to give this current surgery a chance to heal rather than go in for a new one tomorrow... it's still the same!
From now on there'll be a change in me. My walk will be different, my talk and my name. Nothing about me gonna be the same...I'm gonna change my way of living, and if that ain't enough, I'll even change the way I strut my stuff....There'll be some changes made
And we change back to the same. (Except that I'll have a change of clothes. I only brought what I was wearing and a set of scrubs to wear at night thinking we'd be back home by today!)
I invited Mike to write here...and maybe he will. Or maybe he will google and chatter on his own blog. It's all the same to me...Nobody loves you when you are old and grey. There'll be some changes made!
Tuesday, March 8, 2011
Catching butterflies and updates
I have been writing posts and not publishing them before I am satisfied with them...and so the signs of spring were actually listed along with the opening of the month of March, but the draft was not published until now. I finished that draft so that I would be able to publish the next one...that said my father is out of the hospital on March 3rd with a clean bill of health
And the next blog that continued the story of Mikes giant cell tumor on his right tibia just below the knee. Scheduled for surgery to remove the tumor on March 7th following his February 25th appointment with an orthopedic oncologist at UAMS in Little Rock. (see I Like Mike...blog if you are only now following this story and I won't repeat, only follow up here...)
Mike and I headed for Little Rock a little after 7 am yesterday morning. Was that only yesterday we left home? It seems like lots longer. His surgery was scheduled for noon and he was told to be there at ten so he could do some extensive pre op and since the two of us were anxious, we left home in plenty of time to arrive at the hospital before 8. Everything fell into place, we found a decent parking place and a wheel chair and checked in (and were given a pager so they could notify us when he should go to pre op) about 8:30. We went to the waiting room and talked about how hungry and thirsty and in need of a cup of coffee we both were ... and then our pager started buzzing and blinking. Before 9 o'clock we were in a pre op room and the doctor's assistants were coming in to take some of his blood and the anesthesiologists were coming in to put a nerve block that would deaden his lower leg... and they sent me out of the room.
They called me back in and the surgeon was in the room and Mike was saying that the nerve block they had attempted was not working and he still had all the feeling in his leg even though the anesthetist had tried 3 times to find the right nerve to deaden his lower leg. The young surgeon just said something about how those nerve blocks don't work on everyone...he drew some lines and put his initials on what he called "your baby" and explained that they would make a small window incision first to do a biopsy and that they'd page me again when they could tell me about whether Mike showed any cancer cells. After that, the overseeing surgeon, Dr. Nicholas came in and let him know it was time to go...and Mike asked him if they were going to shave his leg and give him a shot to mellow him out...and the answer was that they didn't need to and the techs came in to wheel his bed off to surgery and I went back to waiting room with my pager...and the coffee was freshly dripped and smelled really good...and I fixed myself a cup of it and I waited. Mike was off to surgery a little before ten...
A couple of hours later they called me to the desk to tell me that the doctor had sent me word about the biopsy. There was no sign of cancer...all the cells they removed from his giant giant cell giant tumor were completely cancer free. Good news! Everything was going well and all there was left for me to do was wait until the surgery was finished, the post op and recouperation from the anesthesia was complete and then I would be able to see Mike and how well he had tolerated the surgery. The wait got long and I fell asleep wondering 'why DO they call what doctors do practice?'
It was almost three in the afternoon before my pager buzzed and flashed again...Dr. Nicholas came to talk to me...and we went to a room with a chalk board so he could draw me an illustration...but there was no pen for the white eraseboard so he drew his illustration on paper and showed me Mike's "after" xray. Mike and I had been waiting to hear from Dr. Nicholas after the surgery to find out if we'd go home that afternoon or if Mike would need to spend the night. By every indication, if all went well, we'd be able to go home so I was sure the doc was going to give me instructions for taking care of Mike at home and changing his dressings...
But that was not the case. Doctor Nicholas told me that after the biopsy, knowing that the tumor at the top of Mike's lower right leg was a tumor that needed to be removed, they began the surgery only to find out right away the answer to the question every doctor had asked...whether there was enough bone left at the top of the bone to be able to remove the tumor, cement the open area and start Mike on his road back to using his leg...the answer was...'no, there wasn't. As a matter of fact, the tumor had absorbed most of the bone on the right top side leaving that area open and not easily filled and at the top, the bone was already broken in two places because so much of it had been absorbed and it was too thin for the breaks to ever heal. What the doctor said was that Mike was in need of a complete knee replacement in order to make the top of the leg work together with the bottom so that he would be able to bend and turn his leg the same way he could before. The good news is that he has the 2nd surgery scheduled already for next Thursday so Mike will have the option to stay in the hospital and take no chances with travel or with infection. The bad news...even after the surgery Mike won't be able to jog or to enter the sprint race in the Olympics!
I told the doctor that Mike was just anxious to be able to walk again without crutches and asked when he would be able to tell Mike that news. And so it is today. I am sitting in the mornings quiet at the hospital, Mike asleep in the bed beside me snoring! I didn't get to this room until about six o'clock last evening and he didn't arrive until a half hour later. Mike asked, so I broke the bad news to him last night and I told his brother on the phone and his daughter via email. He has been in agony, but he has managed to do all the things he has been told to do including bear wrappings so tight as to be nearly unbearable, swallowing to take medications even though his throat is making him want to scream after the surgery breathing tube, feeling pain and needing to wait for a long time before his next dose, starving since the day before yesterday, and keeping his leg absolutely still (even through a ct scan)...thank goodness he is able to sleep!
Speaking of which, I notice that the lights have gone off on the Capitol building in the Little Rock skyline. I need to get a little sleep myself.
And the next blog that continued the story of Mikes giant cell tumor on his right tibia just below the knee. Scheduled for surgery to remove the tumor on March 7th following his February 25th appointment with an orthopedic oncologist at UAMS in Little Rock. (see I Like Mike...blog if you are only now following this story and I won't repeat, only follow up here...)
Mike and I headed for Little Rock a little after 7 am yesterday morning. Was that only yesterday we left home? It seems like lots longer. His surgery was scheduled for noon and he was told to be there at ten so he could do some extensive pre op and since the two of us were anxious, we left home in plenty of time to arrive at the hospital before 8. Everything fell into place, we found a decent parking place and a wheel chair and checked in (and were given a pager so they could notify us when he should go to pre op) about 8:30. We went to the waiting room and talked about how hungry and thirsty and in need of a cup of coffee we both were ... and then our pager started buzzing and blinking. Before 9 o'clock we were in a pre op room and the doctor's assistants were coming in to take some of his blood and the anesthesiologists were coming in to put a nerve block that would deaden his lower leg... and they sent me out of the room.
They called me back in and the surgeon was in the room and Mike was saying that the nerve block they had attempted was not working and he still had all the feeling in his leg even though the anesthetist had tried 3 times to find the right nerve to deaden his lower leg. The young surgeon just said something about how those nerve blocks don't work on everyone...he drew some lines and put his initials on what he called "your baby" and explained that they would make a small window incision first to do a biopsy and that they'd page me again when they could tell me about whether Mike showed any cancer cells. After that, the overseeing surgeon, Dr. Nicholas came in and let him know it was time to go...and Mike asked him if they were going to shave his leg and give him a shot to mellow him out...and the answer was that they didn't need to and the techs came in to wheel his bed off to surgery and I went back to waiting room with my pager...and the coffee was freshly dripped and smelled really good...and I fixed myself a cup of it and I waited. Mike was off to surgery a little before ten...
A couple of hours later they called me to the desk to tell me that the doctor had sent me word about the biopsy. There was no sign of cancer...all the cells they removed from his giant giant cell giant tumor were completely cancer free. Good news! Everything was going well and all there was left for me to do was wait until the surgery was finished, the post op and recouperation from the anesthesia was complete and then I would be able to see Mike and how well he had tolerated the surgery. The wait got long and I fell asleep wondering 'why DO they call what doctors do practice?'
It was almost three in the afternoon before my pager buzzed and flashed again...Dr. Nicholas came to talk to me...and we went to a room with a chalk board so he could draw me an illustration...but there was no pen for the white eraseboard so he drew his illustration on paper and showed me Mike's "after" xray. Mike and I had been waiting to hear from Dr. Nicholas after the surgery to find out if we'd go home that afternoon or if Mike would need to spend the night. By every indication, if all went well, we'd be able to go home so I was sure the doc was going to give me instructions for taking care of Mike at home and changing his dressings...
But that was not the case. Doctor Nicholas told me that after the biopsy, knowing that the tumor at the top of Mike's lower right leg was a tumor that needed to be removed, they began the surgery only to find out right away the answer to the question every doctor had asked...whether there was enough bone left at the top of the bone to be able to remove the tumor, cement the open area and start Mike on his road back to using his leg...the answer was...'no, there wasn't. As a matter of fact, the tumor had absorbed most of the bone on the right top side leaving that area open and not easily filled and at the top, the bone was already broken in two places because so much of it had been absorbed and it was too thin for the breaks to ever heal. What the doctor said was that Mike was in need of a complete knee replacement in order to make the top of the leg work together with the bottom so that he would be able to bend and turn his leg the same way he could before. The good news is that he has the 2nd surgery scheduled already for next Thursday so Mike will have the option to stay in the hospital and take no chances with travel or with infection. The bad news...even after the surgery Mike won't be able to jog or to enter the sprint race in the Olympics!
I told the doctor that Mike was just anxious to be able to walk again without crutches and asked when he would be able to tell Mike that news. And so it is today. I am sitting in the mornings quiet at the hospital, Mike asleep in the bed beside me snoring! I didn't get to this room until about six o'clock last evening and he didn't arrive until a half hour later. Mike asked, so I broke the bad news to him last night and I told his brother on the phone and his daughter via email. He has been in agony, but he has managed to do all the things he has been told to do including bear wrappings so tight as to be nearly unbearable, swallowing to take medications even though his throat is making him want to scream after the surgery breathing tube, feeling pain and needing to wait for a long time before his next dose, starving since the day before yesterday, and keeping his leg absolutely still (even through a ct scan)...thank goodness he is able to sleep!
Speaking of which, I notice that the lights have gone off on the Capitol building in the Little Rock skyline. I need to get a little sleep myself.
Signs of spring
The pear trees that line the front porch are awash with white blossoms. In the back yard the camelia bush below my kitchen window has big pink open blooms so many you can barely see the green leaves of the trees. It looks like the woods out back are turning green, and the daffodils like the ones along my back fence have opened into yellows and whites everywhere I have travelled in Arkansas. The air smells fresh and clean and there are birds of all kinds dropping down in huge flocks to eat the old dried seeds of our newly greened front lawn. I have a strong desire to wash all the bedding in the house and hang it outside on my clothesline. Mike has been walking as little as possible and on crutches, but I heard him telling Mike2 how to use the tiller for the garden, so maybe we will grow tomatoes again this year!
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